Johnny D

Posted 05-26-2017 10:35 AM

Getting a race carâ€™s suspension settings correct can be confounding, but a key step is to figure out whether a problem is the car or the driver

Getting the setup on a race car correct is tricky. There are so many variables, not to mention types of corners and tracks, that getting the car to behave like you want it to in all conditions is a challenge, if not downright impossible. The first part of understanding setup, however, is exactly that â€“ you want to get the car to behave how you want.

â€œI donâ€™t think thereâ€™s ever been a perfect setup on a car,â€ says Glenn Long, who before he became the builder of the Global MX-5 Cup car for Mazda Motorsports was crew chief for Freedom Autosport in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, and his son Tomâ€™s Spec Miata before that. â€œPart of that is what the driver wants the car to do. Just because it works for Alonso, doesnâ€™t mean itâ€™s going to work for Glenn Long â€“ different skills, different abilities. Some like oversteer, some like more neutral cars. The big misconception is that thereâ€™s a right answer. The reality, in my mind, is that more often than not, there are just wrong answers. If the car isnâ€™t doing what the driver wants it to do, itâ€™s not right.â€

Now that the question of what is meant by a correct setup (and for many racers in Spec Miata and Touring, that basically means an alignment and tire pressure), the next question is what part of the carâ€™s behavior is attributable to setup, and what part is driving error.

â€œThere are many times you will work with guys who confuse what the car is doing and what they are doing,â€ explains racing coach and driver of the Freedom Autosport MX-5 in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Andrew Carbonell. â€œAre they causing the car to have a handling issue, or does the car actually have a handling issue? A very simple example: If we over slow the corner, and we go to throttle too soon, therefore shifting the weight to the back of the car, we cause understeer. If youâ€™re doing this turn after turn, lap after lap, youâ€™re going to complain the car is an understeering pig. You have to make sure youâ€™re driving your car properly and doing what physics allows; if you are, and the car still isnâ€™t responding properly, then itâ€™s a setup issue.â€

The ultimate way to isolate whether a problem is driver- or setup-induced, says Long, is data. â€œThe driver feedback may be that heâ€™s flat through a corner, and you find out through data that maybe the footâ€™s not paying attention; maybe itâ€™s not as flat as the driver thought it was,â€ Long says. â€œBy looking at the data, and especially if you have the luxury of having comparative data, that is ideal, because you can then easily decipher the problemâ€¦youâ€™re braking too early, youâ€™re not on the power here, or youâ€™re generating too much side load because youâ€™re entering too early.â€

The other thing that can cause confusion, he notes, is an actual mechanical issue with the car, which can be particularly hard to identify. â€œA great example is if you have a limited slip and the diff opens up and you get a lot of wheel spin,â€ Long explains. â€œYou can drive yourself crazy trying to adjust around that, and itâ€™s really a mechanical problem.â€

There are some clear indicators of when a problem is setup related. â€œIf itâ€™s overly loose â€“ as soon as you touch the wheel it wants to come around â€“or it doesnâ€™t want to turn on the way into the corner, then weâ€™ve got obvious issues,â€ says Carbonell.

Tire temperatures can be a pretty good measure of how close to the target a setup is. Too much temperature spread across the tire is a good indicator that something isnâ€™t right, and that information combined with driver feedback (bounce ideas off a fellow racer if youâ€™re your own crew chief) can go a long way to getting something close. Once youâ€™re in the ballpark and youâ€™ve got a setup that feels good, itâ€™s time to take a step back. â€œOnce you get it close, you really need to polish the driving before you keep knocking away at setup,â€ says Carbonell.

Think about it â€“ would you rather spend your time under the car making small changes in toe, or analyzing data and video to see where you might be able to improve the carâ€™s behavior through better driving? Small setup changes arenâ€™t likely to make a difference until youâ€™ve nailed the driving.